Inflatable bag for garment finisher



April 16, 1968 H. 0. FORSE INFLATABLE BAG FOR GARMENT FINISHER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 12, 1967 INVENTOR. 8 3 HARRY D. FORSE ATTORNEYS INFLATABLE BAG FOR GARMENT FINISHER Filed Jilly 12, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

HARRY 0. FORSE ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,378,179 INFLATABLE BAG FOR GARMENT FINISHER I-Imry D. Forse, 220 Woods Road, Anderson, Ind. 46011 Filed July 12, 1967, Ser. No. 652,869 Claims. (Cl. 223-457) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An inflatable bag for supporting a garment while it is being dried after cleaning, the bag being arranged internally of the garment to shape the garment when the bag is inflated. The bag is provided with a slit, a zipper arranged to close the slit and an inflatable expansion panel carried internally of the bag when the slit is closed. The panel is sealably connected about the perimeter of the slit so that, when the slit is open and the bag is inflated, the panel will protrude outwardly through the slit to increase the perimeter of the bag in the area of the slit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates generally to garment finishing apparatus, and more particularly to the provision of an improved inflatable bag for garment finishing apparatus of the type comprising a buck for supporting the upper portion of a garment and an inflatable bag for supporting the lower portion of the garment in draped relation to the buck. In such apparatus, wet vapor, usually in the form of steam, is injected into the bag and through the walls of the bag to dampen the garment, and then dry vapor is injected into the bag to inflate the bag, thereby to shape and dry the garment.

Description of the prior art It is well known that a garment may be shaped and finished by supporting the garment on a bag which is inflated with steam and then dry air. Prior art garment finishing apparatus have utilized such inflatable bags for several years. One of the problems with such prior art bags is that they will not fit several sizes and lengths of garments. For instance, in order to support properly a mans suitcoat, it is essential that the bag have some narrowing at the waist or wrinkles will be developed at the sides of the coat. However, when an overcoat or, even, a large suitcoat is supported on a bag which is contoured to fit a small or regular size suitcoat, the lower portion of the overcoat or large suitcoat will not be properly supported and shaped. In short, prior art inflatable bags of the type herein discussed have not been so proportioned and arranged that several sizes and lengths of garments can be properly supported and shaped on the same bag.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides anrimproved inflatable bag for use with a garment finishing apparatus which comprises a buck for supporting the upper portion of a garment and a bag for supporting the lower portion of the garment in draped relation to the buck. The bag of the present invention has at least one slit in a side thereof, the slit extending upwardly from the lower portion of the bag to a point intermediate the upper and lower ends of the bag. Closure means, such as a zipper is arranged to close the slit and an inflatable expansion panel is cooperatively associated with the slit. The panel is sealably connected about the perimeter of the slit so that, when the slit is open and the bag is inflated, the panel will "ice protrude outwardly through the slit to increase the perimeter of the bag, thereby to shape the lower portion of the garment.

In a preferred embodiment, a panel and its associated slit are provided in each side of the bag, preferably in the right-hand and left-hand sides.

Thus, the bag of the present invention can be enlarged by means of the expansion panel to handle garments of larger size.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an inflatable bag for supporting and shaping a garment, the bag including an expansion panel which is carried internally of the bag and which will protrude out through a slit when the bag is inflated and the slit is open.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bag having a pair of such slits extending vertically upwardly from the lower portion of the bag to a point intermediate the ends of the bag, one of the slits being provided in the right-hand side of the bag and the other of the slits being provided in the left'hand side of the bag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away, perspective view of an inflatable bag suspended from a buck which has an outer surface defining neck and shoulder portions corresponding to those of the human body, the bag being arranged to support a coat or the like in draped relation to the buck;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, partially cut-away, to show a suitcoat draped over the bag of FIG. 1 and means for inflating the bag;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an overcoat draped over the bag of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the bag of FIG. 1 with its lower portion enlarged by means of an expansion panel which protrudes through an open slit;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional, view taken from FIG. 2 generally along the line 5--5 to show an expansion panel and its associated slit when the slit is closed; and

FIG. 6 is :a fragmentary sectional View showingthe protrusion of the expansion panel of FIG. 5 when its associated slit is open and the bag is inflated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the bag of the present invention, indicated generally by the reference numeral 16', is ideally suited for use on a garment finisher of the type having a buck 12 which has an outer surface defining neck and shoulder portions corresponding to those oi the human body. The bag 10 is suspended from the buck 12 to hang downwardly therefrom, the lower end 14 of the bag being open so that the bag is in communication with a blower system 16 contained in the base 18 of the garment finisher, the blower system and base being indicated generally by their respective reference numerals in FIG. 2. In a conventional manner, the top surface 20 of the base 18 is provided with a generally circular opening, not shown, having an upturned flange about its periphery, the lower end 14 of the bag 10 being secured to the flange by means of a conventional drawstring, also not shown. Thus, when the blower system 16 is energized, the bag 10 is inflated.

Of course, means, not shown, are provided internally of the bag to support the buck 12.

It will be seen, therefore, that the bag 10 and buck 12 provide a form for supporting a coat-like garment While it is being finished, i.e., while steam and, then, dry air are being forced, through the garment.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that when a suitcoat 22 is suspended over the buck 12, the lower portion 24 of the suitcoat engages the intermediate portion 26 of the illustrated bag 10. Since most suitcoats are tailored so that the waist is somewhat narrow as compared to the shoulder region of the coat, the intermediate portion 26 must be contoured inwardly relative to the buck 12.

Referring to FIG. 3, however, it will be seen that when an overcoat 28 is suspended from the buck 12, the lower portion 30 of the coat will perimetrally engage the lower portion of the bag 10. Thus, since overcoats are relatively full at the bottom as compared to the shoulder region, means must be provided for expanding the lower portion of the bag 10 to place the lower portion 36 of the coat 28 in slight tension when the coat is being dried.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that a conventional pressing plate 32 is provided for holding the lapels of the coats 22 and 28 together while the coats are being finished. Specifically, such pressing plates 32 press the lapels of the coats 22 and 28 against a stationary pressing plate, not shown, carried internally of the bag 10 and supported on the base 18. The pressing plate 32 is arranged to hold the lapels of the coats 22 and 28 together so that when the bag 10 is inflated, the body of the coat will be placed in tension. It will be apparent that if the lapels are not held together, the coats will merely open when the bag 10 is inflated.

Various conventional mechanisms may be provided for engaging the pressing plate 32 with the lapels of the coats 22 and 28. The present inventor has shown and described a suitable mechanism for actuating the pressing plate 32 in his copending application Ser. No. 623,692, filed Mar. 16, 1967. Such mechanisms are not a part of this invention and, therefore, do not need to be described herein.

In order to provide a bag 10 which is usable with a suitcoat such as the suitcoat 22 and an overcoat such as the overcoat 28, the lower portion of the bag 19 must be selectively expandable. Thus, a zippered opening or slit 34 is provided in the lower right-hand side and the lower left-hand side of the bag 10, only the slit 34 on the left-hand side being shown in the accompanying drawings. Each of the slits 34 extends upwardly to the intermediate portion 26 of the bag 10. The zipper, indicated generally by the reference number 36, which closes each slit 34, extends throughout the length of the slit.

An inflatable expansion panel 38 is associated with each slit 34, the panel being sealably connected about the perimeter of the slit (the perimeter being indicated by the reference numeral 40), as by folding and stitching, so that, when the slit is open and the bag 10' is inflated, the panel 38 will protrude outwardly through the slit, as suggested in FIGS. 4 and 6, to increase the perimeter of the bag. Of course, when the slit 34 is closed, i.e., when the zipper 36 is closed, the panel 38 is carried internally of the bag Ill as suggested in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 6, it will be seen that, when the zipper 36 is open and the bag 10 is inflated, the edges of the slit 34 will move in the direction of the arrows 42 and the panel 38 will move outwardly through the slit in the direction of the arrow 44 until the panel 38 reaches its outermost position shown in FIG. 6.

It will be apparent, from the above description, that when the slits 34 are open and the bag 10 is inflated, the perimeter of the lower portion of the bag is substantially increased. Specifically, each slit 34 permits the perimeter of the bag 10 to be increased by an amount equal to the distance 46 (FIG. 6) between the edges of the spread apart slit 34 plus the distance about the perimeter of the protruding panel 38.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the panel 38, associated with each slit 34, is provided in the form of a bag-type enclosure, the mouth of the enclosure being sewn perimetrally about the slit. Thus, when the slit 34 is open and the bag 10 is inflated, the panel 38 will protrude outwardly through the slit 34 to form a bulge as suggested in FIGS. 4 and 6. That is, the bagtype enclosure formed by the panel 38 is merely turned inside out to protrude through the open slit 34'.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the sleeves of the suitcoat 22 and overcoat 28 are shaped by conventional sleeve stretchers 48, which stretchers are not a part of this invention and, therefore, need not be discussed in this description.

Although the illustrative blower system 16 comprises a motor 50, fan 52 and belt 54 drivingly connecting the motor and fan, it will be apparent that other blower systems may be used with the bag 10.

The material from which the bag 10 and the expansion panels 38 are made must be somewhat porous, so that the steam and air injected into the bag can flow through the walls of the bag and the garment to dampen and dry the garment. The material from which the bag 10 and panels 38 are made may be uniformly porous so that the garment is uniformly dampened and dried. Alternatively, different portions of the bag 10 may have different porosities. For example, the top portion through which is ejected to dampen the shoulders of the garment may be more porous than the lower portion.

While there have been discussed above the principles of this invention in conjunction with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A unitary inflatable bag for supporting a garment, said bag having an upper end for supporting the same on a buck in suspended relation therewith and an open lower end for admitting a fluid medium thereto thereby to inflate the same, said bag being arranged internally of said garment to shape said garment when said bag is inflated, said bag having a slit provided therein adjacent said lower end, closure means arranged to close said slit, and an inflatable expansion panel carried internally of said bag, said panel being sealably connected about the perimeter of said slit so that, when said slit is open and said bag is inflated, said panel will protrude outwardly through said slit to increase the perimeter of said bag adjacent said lower end thereof.

2. A bag as in claim 1 wherein said expansion panel is provided in the form of a bag-type enclosure, the mouth of said enclosure being sewn perimetrally about said slit.

3. A bag as in claim 1 wherein said slit extends vertically upwardly from the lower right-hand side of said bag and wherein said bag is further provided with a second slit extending vertically upwardly from the lower lefthand side of said bag, and further comprising a second closure means arranged to close said second slit and a second expansion panel carried internally of said bag, said second panel being sealably connected about the perimeter of said second slit so that, when said second slit is open and said bag is inflated, said second panel Will protrude outwardly through said second slit.

4. A bag as in claim 1 wherein said closure means comprises a zipper-type fastener.

5. A garment finishing apparatus comprising a buck for supporting the upper portion of a garment, a unitary inflatable bag for supporting the lower portion of the garment in draped relation to said buck, said bag having an upper end supported by said buck and an open lower end, and means communicating with said open end for inflating said bag, said bag being arranged internally of said garment, said bag being provided with a slit in each 5 side thereof, said slits extending upwardly from the lower portion of said bag to a point intermediate the upper and lower ends of said bag, a Zipper arranged selectively to close each of said slits, and an inflatable expansion panel cooperatively associated with each of said slits, each of said panels being sealahly connected about the perimeter of its associated slit so that, when said slit is open and said bag is inflated, said panel will protrude outwardly jacent said lower end.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,317,924 4/1943 Lendle 223-70 5 2,543,413 2/1951 Koth 22367 2,948,444 8/ 1960 Par-is 223-67 3,268,126 8/1966 Killey 223-67 3,333,747 8/ 1967 Glover 223-67 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. 0 GEORGE v. LARKIN, Examiner. 

